A mob of Israeli settlers attacked 30-year-old Midhat Abu Karsh, a Palestinian teacher from the southern West Bank village of As-Samu' south of Hebron on Saturday.

Abu Karsh was hit in the head with sharp objects before he was dragged to a nearby settlement outpost where he was tied to an electricity pole.

Eyewitnesses affirmed that four Israeli settlers struck Abu Karsh with clubs until his head began to bleed. He remained tied to the pole until an Israeli patrol came and untied him in order to administer first aid. Shortly after, Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances evacuated the teacher to the 'Alya Hospital in Hebron.

According to Abdul-Majid Al-Badarin, member of the local committee for defending lands at As-Samu', Israeli soldiers prevented local residents from accessing the injured teacher, and the ambulance had tried to reach him for two hours before it was allowed through.

The assault against Abu Karsh coincided with a rally in the neighborhood organized by local farmers, foreign and Israeli activists demanding that farmers have access to their agricultural lands.

During that rally, Israeli forces arrested 21-year-old Mahran Abu Karsh (a relative of the beaten man) and another boy aged 13 who was released after protest.

Local residents accused settlers of setting fire to 15 dunums (15,000 square meters) of wheat in southern As Samu'. They mentioned that one Israeli settler is currently building a settlement outpost two kilometers from the Israeli settlement of Sham'a. The settler has been opening fire on Palestinian farmers when they came to tend their fields.

A 10-year-old boy was subjected to physical abuse amounting to torture for 2.5 hours by Israeli soldiers who stormed his family's shop on 11 June, seeking information on the location of a handgun. The boy was repeatedly beaten, slapped and punched in the head and stomach, forced to hold a stress position for half and hour, and threatened. He was deeply shocked and lost two molar teeth as a result of the assault.

On Wednesday 11 June 2008, at around 10:30am, 10-year-old Ezzat, his brother Makkawi (7) and sister Lara (8) were in their father's shop selling animal feed and eggs in the village of Sanniriya, near the West Bank city of Qalqiliya. The children were suddenly startled to see two Israeli soldiers storm in to the shop.

Interrogation and abuse in the shop

One soldier wearing a black T-shirt started shouting in a loud, menacing voice in Arabic, "your father sent us to you to collect his gun." A terrified Ezzat responded, "My father does not own a gun." The soldier responded by slapping Ezzat hard across the right cheek and his brother Makawi across his face. The soldier then ordered Makkawi and Lara to leave the shop.

Once the younger children had left the soldier demanded once again that Ezzat hand over his father's gun. Although Ezzat repeated that his father did not own a gun the soldier ordered him to search for it in the sacks containing the animal feed. Ezzat kept insisting that there was no gun in the shop so the soldier slapped him once again, this time across his left cheek.

One of Ezzat's friends, realising that something was wrong, tried to enter the shop but was kicked by the soldier standing at the door and prevented from entering. Soon a group of local people had gathered outside the shop. Some of the people in the group also tried to enter the shop but were prevented from doing so by the soldier at the door.

The soldier in the black T-shirt asked him once again to produce the gun. Ezzat answered, "We do not have anything." The soldier responded by punching him hard in the stomach causing Ezzat to fall over on to empty egg boxes. Ezzat started screaming and crying out from pain and fear. The soldier in the black T-shirt started making fun of Ezzat and imitated him crying. Ezzat remained in the shop alone with the soldiers for a further 15 minutes when the soldier in black abruptly grabbed him by his T-shirt and dragged him out of the shop. Ezzat asked the soldier if he could lock up his father's shop but the soldier said he wanted it to remain open so that it could be robbed. The soldier also threatened to put Ezzat in his jeep and take him away.

Once they were out of the shop, Ezzat was ordered to walk in front of the soldiers to his house, whilst a gun was pointed at his back. The soldiers hit him several times on the nape of his neck along the way. On approaching his house Ezzat saw many Israeli military officials surrounding the house and a number of green military vehicles parked outside. One of the olive coloured jeeps had the word "police" written on it.

Interrogation and abuse in the home

After arriving at the family's home the soldier in the black T-shirt stood Ezzat in the yard and ordered him to search the flower basin for the gun. Before Ezzat had a chance to respond the soldier slapped him so violently that Ezzat fell down face first into the basin. Without giving him the chance to stand up the soldier grabbed him by his T-shirt and lifted him up roughly. He was then instructed in Arabic by another soldier to head to the guestroom.

On approaching the guestroom Ezzat could see his father standing by the door. The soldier slapped him on the neck and Ezzat fell to the ground. As Ezzat stood up the soldier slapped him a second time making him fall to the ground once again. All this happened in front of his father. He then grabbed Ezzat by his T-shirt and lifted him in to the air. The soldier told Ezzat's father that he was going to take his son to prison. He also threatened to take Ezzat's 19-year-old sister to prison.

Ezzat was then pushed forcibly in to the guest room where his mother and four of his other siblings including his sisters Diana (19), Raghda (18), Aya (15) and brother Jihad (3), were being held. His mother was crying. Ezzat was also crying and when asked by his mother why he was crying, he said it was because he had been hit by the soldiers. His mother asked the soldiers to stop beating her son and to beat her instead.

After several minutes Ezzat was taken out of the guestroom and slapped several times by the soldier in black, once so hard that he fell to the ground. After being moved to several locations in the house Ezzat was told to stay in the boys' bedroom. The same soldier then left the room but returned every five minutes to slap Ezzat and also to punch him several times in the stomach. Each time this took place Ezzat would shout and scream out in pain and burst in to tears. The soldier would then imitate him and make fun of him. The soldier hit him around six times.

Destruction of property and use of stress positions

A short time later, five soldiers entered the room and proceeded to destroy the family's property using hammers. In all, the soldiers destroyed wooden ventilation panels in the attic, a small refrigerator in the bedroom and it contents, damage to the kitchen, a fan and the fireplace.

Ezzat spent one hour in the bedroom alone with the soldiers. In that hour he was ordered by the same soldier to stand on one foot for half an hour, with his back against the wall and with both his hands lifted up in the air. Ezzat was exhausted by this but was too scared to put his foot down on the ground. Eventually he was told by one of the other soldiers that he could put his foot down. He was then asked to sit down in a squat position. He managed to remain in this position for two minutes and then had to stand up. A female soldier then walked in to the room and asked him to sit on the refrigerator box.

Shortly after the soldier in the black T-shirt returned accompanied by Ezzat's older sister Diana. He proceeded to ask Ezzat whether he cared for his sister to which Ezzat responded, "Yes I do." The soldier then asked him to tell him where the gun was hidden and that if he told him where it was hidden that he would not tell Ezzat's father. The soldier left the room with Ezzat's sister. He then returned to the room on his own and hit Ezzat all over his body. He left the room once again and after a while came back offering Ezzat 10 Shekels in return for telling him where the gun was. Ezzat responded that he did not care about money.

This made the soldier extremely angry and he took off his helmet and started throwing it at Ezzat from two metres away. Ezzat was in extreme pain. The soldier continued to hit him with the helmet and then left the room once again returning to slap him across his face and on his stomach. This continued for some time with the soldier leaving the room and returning to hit Ezzat and to question him over the gun.

Interrogation of family

Ezzat then witnessed the soldier in the black T-shirt and the female soldier leading his sisters and mother to one of the rooms close to the boys' bedroom. They closed the door of the room but Ezzat could hear the soldiers shouting at them. He overheard the soldier telling the female soldier to hit his mother because she was refusing to take her clothes off to be searched. After the incident was over Ezzat's sister informed him that they were all strip searched by the female soldier, while the male soldier waited outside.

Meanwhile, a soldier wearing black sunglasses entered the bedroom in which Ezzat was being held. He walked in pointing a rifle a few centimetres away from Ezzat's head. Ezzat was so terrified that he began to shiver. The soldier laughed and made fun of him. He asked Ezzat to tell him where the gun was and threatened to shoot him if he didn't. Ezzat continued to maintain that there was no weapon hidden away.

The soldier, getting agitated shouted at Ezzat, "for the last time, tell me where the gun is before I shoot you." Ezzat repeated that he did not have a gun. Hearing this, the soldier lowered his rifle and left the room. After about five minutes the soldier in the black T-shirt entered the room along with four other soldiers and said that they were leaving but would return.

The soldiers spent two and half hours in the house in total. After the incident Ezzat spent the night at his uncle's house because he was too scared to sleep in his home. As a result of the physical assault Ezzat lost two of his molar teeth and is deeply shocked by the incident.

DCI/PS Statement

DCI/PS [Defence for Children International-Palestine Section] is appalled that Israeli authorities would subject a 10-year-old child to beatings, position abuse and threats over the course of several hours. The treatment of Ezzat falls within the definition of torture and other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as defined in the UN Convention Against Torture, to which Israel is a State Party. The treatment of Ezzat also infringes numerous other international conventions to which Israel is bound1, as well as Israeli military and domestic law.

DCI/PS again calls on Israel to immediately ensure its compliance with the UN Convention Against Torture and to thoroughly and impartially investigate the allegations of torture and abuse of Ezzat and bring those found responsible for such abuse to justice.

DCI/PS also calls on the EU to make the upgrade of EU-Israel bilateral relations conditional upon measurable and confirmed progress by Israel to uphold the EU human rights standards in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Israel will hand over the remains of 13 Islamic Jihad fighters killed in southern Lebanon as a part of an expected prisoner exchange between Hizbullah and Israel, Islamic Jihad sources said on Saturday.

The sources said that the slain fighters were residents of Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Among the bodies to be handed over are those of Ghassan Al-Jada' and Muhammad Abdul-Wahhab, who took part in an attack on the Israeli town of Shlomi, on the Lebanese border.

Israeli forces invaded the northern West Bank town of Deir al Ghusun amidst intensive gunfire and sonic bombs on Saturday.

A Ma'an correspondent quoted Palestinian security sources and eyewitnesses as saying that Israeli patrols are - at time of reporting- detaining cars and pedestrians on the main road between Deir al Ghsun and Bal'a village to the east of the town, as well as on the road between Deir al Ghusun and Al-Jarushiya to the south.

The sources added that young Palestinian men began pelting invading Israeli soldiers with stones; the soldiers respond by shooting rubber-coated metal bullets. Some soldiers have taken positions on the tops of high buildings in the town's center.

Israeli troops have imposed a curfew on the entire West Bank village of Nil'in, northwest of the city of Ramallah, forcing residents inside their homes and blocking the community's three main entrances, witnesses inside the village said on Saturday.

Witnesses said that Israeli forces are using tear gas, rubber-coated metal bullets and occasional live rounds to enforce the curfew.

The villagers of Nil'in and their international and Israeli supporters have been staging weekly demonstrations against the construction of Israel's separation wall. The Israeli military has violently cracked down on these demonstrations, resulting in scores of injuries.

Former Palestinian Minister of Information Mustafa Bargouthi called the closure "collective punishment aimed at breaking the popular, non-violent struggle against the wall."

Expecting another weekly protest, Israeli soldiers moved in at 5am on Friday, declaring the village a "closed military zone." At noon, six hundred villagers defied the curfew, holding the Friday Muslim prayer and a demonstration which lasted until 6pm.

Israeli troops once again attacked Friday's protest. In the course of the day, 24 people were injured by bullets and tear gas. Four Israeli activists and one journalist were arrested.

Witnesses added that Israeli soldiers blocking the roads into the village halted an ambulance transporting a 65-year-old woman named Fayqa Hussni Khawaja to a nearby hospital.

Israeli warships used machineguns to fire on Palestinian fishermen in the Sudaniyya area of the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday morning. No casualties have been reported.

Separately, on Friday, Israeli warships fired two shells at fishermen's boats in the area of Tal As-Sultan, west of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, damaging the boats.

These attacks are in direct violation of a truce between Israel and Palestinian resistance groups that went into effect on 19 June.

Israel and the Palestinian groups have accused each other of violating the ceasefire. According to the terms of the Egyptian-brokered truce, all sides are to hold their fire, and Israel is to gradually ease its year-old military blockade of Gaza's borders. Twice however, the Israeli military has re-sealed the borders in response to Palestinian homemade projectiles fired from Gaza.

Palestinian groups also accuse Israel of dragging its feet on implementing key components of the agreement, mainly ending the blockade.

Israeli forces fired live bullets and tear gas bombs at a group of protesters in Al Ma'sara Friday.

The rally was organized by the residents of Al Ma'sara, a village south of the West Bank city of Bethlehem. The action was in protest of the separation wall being built by Israel which will cut through some of the village land. Eight protestors were slightly injured and five others were arrested.

Among those injured were Hasan Brejieh, a member of the Anti Wall committee and Ahamad Taqatqah, as well as three international activists.

The weekly protest began in response to a statement from the Popular Committee Against the Wall (PCAW) which called on Palestinians and international activists to help hold Israel to the decision made by International Court of Justice in the Hague (ICJ) and the UN that the construction of the wall inside the West Bank is illegal.

PCAW spokesperson Mohamad Brejeiyah said that "the barbaric acts of the Israeli soldiers and the policy oppression used against peaceful protests will not stop Palestinians from demanding their rights by using popular resistance."

Three protesters were injured and dozens inhaled tear gas on Friday during the weekly protest held in the village of Bil'in, west of the West Bank city of Ramallah.

A group Bil'in residents joined by international and Israeli peace activists marched towards the illegal separation wall after the Friday prayers carrying Palestinian flags and banners.

The protesters took to the streets of the village while chanting slogans calling for national unity and denouncing the construction of the separation wall and settlements. As the demonstrators neared the wall they spread out in a line along a portion of it.

The Israeli soldiers fired tear gas bombs and rubber-coated metal bullets at protesters and prevented them from reaching their lands on the other side of the wall.

Among those injured were two French peace activists hit by tear gas bombs, as well as Muhammad Abu Sa'dah, a 65-year-old a resident of Bil'in. All three were treated locally.

According to local Palestinian sources, Ibrahim Burnat, who was shot in the leg with a rubber-coated metal bullet by Israeli soldiers at the Bil'in protest three weeks ago, is still in the hospital and waiting to undergo another operation on his injured leg.

Palestinians attend rally protesting assassination of Popular Resistance Committee member

Israel commited 96 extra-judicial executions of Palestinian activists between 1 August 2006 and 30 June 2008, according to a report by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR).

In a report on extrajudicial executions released this week, PCHR stated that "Israeli legislative, executive, and judicial authorities officially support a policy of extra-judicial executions, making Israeli the only state in the world that officially commits these crimes."

Extrajudicial executions often go under the Israeli label "targeted killing" or "military response," and generally aim at the assassination of someone identified as a political leader. According to the PCHR report, the "most notable tools" for the extrajudicial executions are targeting by military aircraft, operations by under-cover units, ambushes, and house sieges.

In the course of the 96 extrajudicial executions that took place during the period of the report, says PCHR, 173 Palestinians were killed. Of these, 150 were the intended targets of the executions and 23 were civilian bystanders. The civilian victims included 3 women and 3 children.

Sixty-three extrajudicial executions killed 119 Palestinians (103 targeted and 17 bystanders) in the Gaza Strip, while in the West Bank there were 33 killing 54 Palestinians (50 targeted and 4 bystanders).

Since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa Intifada, PCHR says that Israel has committed 348 extrajudicial executions. They that these attacks claimed the lives of 754 Palestinians, constituting 20% of the total number of Palestinians killed during the Intifada. Two-hundred and thirty-three of these victims were civilian bystanders; 71 children and 20 women.

In light of their report, PCHR has called for immediate intervention to put an end to Israeli war crimes and human rights violations. The organization calls on Israel to respect the provisions of the 4th Geneva Convention (1949), and reminds the international community that they consider extrajudicial executions a form of summary execution without trial.

The Centre also called for prosecuting the perpetrators of these crimes, and for the international community to work to prevent their recurrence.

Israeli bulldozer demolishing the Bethlehem home of Muhammad Shihada, March 2008

There is no Israeli law that bans the demolition of the homes of Palestinians who carry out attacks against Israel, the Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz said on Thursday.

After consultations with the State Prosecution office and the Israeli General Security Services, Shabbak, Mazuz arrived at his ruling, saying "the individual examination of the circumstances of each incident must be carried out by the Shin Bet and the army in coordination with the Justice Ministry, as is customary."

Immediately after a Palestinian man plowed a massive construction vehicle into a bus in West Jerusalem on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered his government to look into the legality of destroying the home of the bulldozer driver's home in East Jerusalem. Four people, including the attacker, were killed in the rampage, which left a bus overturned and a number of cars flattened.

Mazuz reported back to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Ehud Barak that under Israeli law the demolitions would be permissible but there may be some legal difficulties that would have to be addressed.

Since 1967, Israel has implemented a policy of demolishing and sealing houses in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a punitive measure against the Palestinian population.

International human rights organizations say house demolitions as a form of punishment contravene international law.

On 17 February 2005, former Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz adopted a recommendation by an Israeli forces committee to stop demolishing the homes of Palestinians suspected of carrying out attacks against Israelis. The committee found that house demolitions are not an efficient deterrent.

The sources told Ma'an that Israeli patrols backed up by Israeli troops overran Kafer-Hares and erected tents at the entrance to the village to ensure the safety of Israeli settlers. Earlier that day settlers attacked the houses of citizens in the village.

The sources confirmed that the Israeli forces climbed on the rooftops of houses in the village, as well as set up checkpoints in the village to restrict the villagers' movement.

Israeli soldiers demolished the home of Kameel As-Sa'u in the neighborhood of Beit Hanina north of East Jerusalem Thursday morning.

Clashes erupted between the Israeli special police forces in charge of demolishing the home and a large number of Biet Hanina residents. In an attempt to stay the demolition, dozens of individuals parked their cars around the home, while others formed a human barrier between the As-Sa'u home and the bulldozers of the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem. The structure was home to seven members of the As-Sa'u family.

During the clashes a number of residents were arrested including Samir As- Sa'u, Kameel's brother. Many surrounding the home sustained light injuries. The Israeli bulldozers managed to reach the site after hours of clashes, causing damages to the cars surrounding it. Once through the barrier, bulldozers began the demolition amidst massively tightened security by horse mounted policemen, border guards and Special Forces.

Shaher Sa'ad the Secretary General of the General Union for Palestinian Workers denounced on Thursday the detainment by Israeli forces of 50 Palestinians working without permits inside the Green Line.

The workers were taken from the area of Au'yon Qara on the pretext that they did not have the required permits to be in the area. The workers were chased, arrested and abused by Israeli soldiers. Sa'ad stated that they were "treated in a very inhumane way."

He asked that international organizations put pressure on Israel and demand that soldiers stop persecuting Palestinians working over the Green Line. He stated that Israel should be brought to task in regard to the unemployment and poverty in the Palestinian territories.

Five residents were injured and dozens of others suffered the effects of tear gas inhalation as they participated in an anti-wall demonstration along with Israeli and International peace activists in the village of Ni'lin west of Ramallah on Thursday.

The demonstrators marched from the centre of the village before reaching the site where the bulldozers are constructing the wall. The Israeli army fired rubber coated metal bullets and tear gas bombs at the protesters. Clashes then erupted between the demonstrators and soldiers.

A delegation from the United Nations office for Human Affairs observed the protest from a nearby roof top.

The coordinator of the popular campaign, Salah al- Khawajah said the villagers and international peace activists held a candle procession on Wednesday evening at the site where the Israeli bulldozers are working. During the procession the demonstrators blocked the path of the bulldozers to prevent them from reaching the construction site.

A heavily armed Israeli force raided the town of Silwad north west of Ramallah on Wednesday evening and stormed the Abu Ubayda mosque in the centre of the town, searching it and confiscating computers and documents.

Eyewitnesses told Ma'an that 25 Israeli military vehicles in addition to dozens of foot soldiers stormed the town at 10.30pm and searched the mosque, the public library and Dar Al-Qur'an Al-Karim (House of Holy Qur'an) - an institute affiliated to the mosque.

The eyewitnesses also said that Israeli forces confiscated five computers from the mosque's library, in addition to a number of files and and books.

The imam of the mosque Sheikh Yasser Hamed described the raid as "an unprecedented event in this town" and said he considered it as "disrespectul to religions and their holy places."

The Israeli army also stormed Silwad sports club, located in the same building as the mosque, confiscating one computer after searching the club's administration offices.

Israeli forces carried out a large-scale apprehension campaign in the village of Duma, south of the West Bank city of Nablus on Thursday morning, detaining 24 Fatah-affiliated men.

Palestinian local sources told Ma'an that 47 Israeli military vehicles stormed the village in the early hours of the morning, raiding dozens of civilian homes before detaining 24 civilians, including a member of the security services, a teacher and students.

The bodies of at least 200 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza, killed during the first and second Intifadas, are buried in unmarked graves in Israeli military cemeteries, deputy of detainees committee in the Legislative Council Issa Qaraqe' said on Thursday.

"Four graves were discovered in Israel, but there are more, as the total number of bodies still held in Israeli cemetaries is unknown," Qaraqe' explained.

He demanded they be returned to their families for proper burial.

Qaraqe' told Ma'an that the bodies are not to be included in the prisoner swap between Israel and Hizbullah, which is due to take place within the next two weeks.

He said that any future deal regarding the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit should include the return of the dead fighters.

He called on the international community to raise the issue with the Israeli authorities and also to visit the graves.

Hamas announced on Wednesday that during June Israeli forces killed 41 Palestinians, including 16 Al-Qassam brigades affiliates, in addition to four children.

Another 28 died as a result of the embargo imposed on the Gaza Strip, bringing the total number of victims to 199 since the start of the crippling siege on the coastal sector in June 2007.

In a statement sent to Ma'an the Hamas information office said that during June, 194 Palestinians were detained by Israeli forces, 179 of whom are from the West Bank.

They also asserted that Israeli forces staged 136 incursions into the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the month.

Hamas added that despite the invitations for dialogue but still the security services in the West Bank launch the political arrests of Hamas members and other Palestinian resisters and they are still detained in the Palestinian jails and they also ban the activities of Hamas in the West Bank and they were even prevented from printing the picture of Iyad Radwan Abdel Rahman Khanfar affiliated to Hamas and was killed by the Israelis.

The shaky ceasefire between Israel and Hamas could relieve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and benefit Hamas politically, but there is a way to go yet.

A successful ceasefire would lead to Israel relaxing restrictions on Gaza, allowing a greater movement of goods and people in and out of the blockaded territory and help Hamas get the international recognition it has long craved, observers say.

The ceasefire deal, brokered by Egypt last month, could also improve Hamas's chances of opening the Rafah Crossing to Egypt.

If Hamas is able to further consolidate its hold on Gaza it may be able to better control the use of force aimed externally, said Nicholas Pelham of the International Crisis Group, an international think-tank.

The tables have turned: In the past, Hamas militants were the ones arrested by Palestinian Authority forces, with Hamas berating government troops for interfering with the "armed struggle". In late June, Hamas threatened any attackers of Israel with arrest.

Following a strong speech by Ismail Haniyeh, the Islamist movement's prime minister in Gaza, who said the only way to break the siege of Gaza was through observing the ceasefire, hardliner Mahmoud al-Zahhar, a Hamas founder, said the group would arrest anyone violating the deal and that it already had some rocket-shooters in custody.

Subsequently, the spokesman for the Al-Aqsa Martyr Brigades, (loosely affiliated with the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas) was detained, creating more tension between the two parties whose fighters engaged in a bloody battle for control of Gaza, with Hamas ending up victors last summer.

The Brigades said they had fired rockets as they wanted the ceasefire deal to include the West Bank.

Israel reopened crossing points to Gaza this week but only to allow in goods deemed humanitarian. "There has been no significant improvement since the ceasefire," said one aid worker. However, some aid specialists said there had been a small increase in the amount of fuel and grain allowed in over the past 10 days.

***IRIN is the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States.

A Palestinian civilian who witnessed the homemade rockets launched from and Israeli settlement of Bracha near Nablus said that this was the third projectile attack in as many weeks.

Jamal Najar, a resident of the village of Burin, where the rockets landed, told the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) that he was sitting on his veranda on Tuesday when saw a projectile launched from near the settlement's mobile phone tower.

The homemade projectiles made international headlines due to their resemblance to the rockets fired by Palestinian fighters from the Gaza Strip.

"It looked like a rocket," he said. The projectile landed on his land, amongst his olive trees, just 150 meters from his house. A second projectile followed two minutes later, coming from the same direction. "The rockets made a loud sound, and a small fire. They made a lot of smoke," he said.

According to ISM's report, Mr Najah went to investigate, and found the two projectiles, which indeed were home-made rockets made from aluminium pipes - one approximately 20cm long, the other approximately 30cm - without any writing. "Not made in USA," he joked. "Made in Bracha."

He described them as being pipes without heads, but closed in on both ends, with a small hole on either end. He took photos of the rockets with his bluetooth phone, shortly before Israeli soldiers arrived and took the pipe rockets away.

This is the third rocket in as many weeks to have been launched from Bracha at the village, Mr Najah told ISM's researchers. While Israeli newspapers claimed the first homemade rocket was launched from Yitzhar, the illegal Israeli settlement that is situated on the opposite ridge-line to Bracha, Mr Najah is adamant that it was in fact from Bracha. He claims that the first rocket was launched from near the houses of the settlement, but that it landed in roughly the same area as the two launched today.

"We were not afraid from these rockets [today]," he said. "The first made a fire, these rockets [today] were behind our home without fire."

His seeming nonchalance continued as he joked "Next time they will make a big rocket and we are dead." His demeanor changed, however, when asked if his family was actually worried about this. "We are worried that this will happen. The children are worried".

While the village of Burin is constantly under threat from settler attacks, sandwiched as it is between the illegal settlements of Yitzhar and Bracha, Mr Najah reports that in the past months these attacks have become steadily worse. As well as the rocket attacks, Israeli settlers from Yitzhar have set fire to the lands of Burin twice in the past month, once on 30th May and again on 19th June.

Attacks have also been made by the settlements of Yitzhar and Bracha on nearby villages of Iraq Burin and Asira al Qibliyia. Residents report that they are unable to go to their lands which are near the settlements for fear of being shot at by the settlers. Settlers also regularly steal the villagers' livestock; kill their animals at night; and cut down their olive trees. Three years ago settlers shot at a car carrying seven Palestinians, causing injuries.

Mr Najah was insistent that while the people of Burin, and the Palestinian people in general, are happy to live in peace with Israelis, the settlements make this impossible. "If the Israeli government wants to make peace, they will put their hand on this land, and they will force the settlers to leave. They have stolen these lands. This is my land from my father, from my grandfather. They have been here since 1984 [referring to when the Bracha settlement was first built], we have been here forever."

Five protestors, including a 9-year-old child, were shot with rubber bullets by Israeli forces in a peaceful protest against the separation wall in Ni'lin, near Ramallah on Tuesday.

The protestors marched throughthe streets of the village towards the land under threat of confiscation for the construction of the wall, shouting slogans.

The protest organizers issued a statement saying that protestors tried to prevent military bulldozers from continuing construction. They added that they threw stones, obstructing five bulldozers and a truck carrying rocks in addition to two military jeeps.

The organizers added that Israeli forces fired rubber bullets and tear gas bombs at the protest, injuring Mohammad Ali Dabbous, Mohammad Walid Al-Khawaja, Ali Fayez Al-Khawaja, Mohammad Ragheb Al-Khawaja and Mohammad Issam Al-Khawaja in addition to a number of others whose names have not yet been released, including a nine-year-old child.

Dozens of others were taken to local medical clinics, suffering from the effects of gas inhalation.

Israeli settlers from the Bracha settlement south of Nablus launched two homemade projectiles at a neighboring Palestinian village on Tuesday afternoon.

No injuries have been reported.

Palestinian security sources told Ma'an that the Israeli settlers launched two projectiles as a test for the two sorts of projectiles they are producing, the 'Sharon 1' and 'Sharon 2.'

Jamal An-Najjar a member of the Palestinian police in the village of Burin told a Ma'an's Nablus correspondent, "settlers launched two homemade projectiles from the settlement of Bracha at the village of Burin, with no injuries reported."

An-Najjar added that the projectiles, which were between 15 and 30 centimeters long, landed in open areas just meters from Palestinian houses.

Israeli forces shot a Palestinian woman in the foot on Tuesday morning while she was tending her sheep south of the city Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Medical sources at the European Hospital in the city of Rafah, also in the southern Gaza Strip, said that 36-year-old 'Aisha Abu 'Ataya was hit by a gunshot in her right foot. They said Israeli soldiers fired at Abu Ataya from a jeep near the town of Al-Fukhari.

The Israeli military has not yet commented on the shooting, which is an apparent violation of the ceasefire in place in the Gaza Strip.

Undercover Israeli forces shot and injured Alaa' Abu Ar-Rub, a prominent Islamic Jihad activist, in the West Bank town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin, on Tuesday morning.

According to reliable sources in Islamic Jihad, the Israeli forces ambushed Abu Ar-Rub near the eastern cemetery in Qabatiya. Abu Ar-Rub was injured during an exchange of fire with the Israeli troops, but managed to escape afterwards.

Following the gunfire, several Israeli military vehicles surrounded the cemetery area in a failed attempt to catch Abu Ar-Rub.

The Islamic Jihad fighter had survived several past Israeli assassination attempts. Three months ago, he escaped undercover Israeli forces near the northern West Bank village of Misliya.